Hello!
It's been awhile since my last blog post and we've had a few travels to catch you up on. At the beginning of April, we traveled to Chiang Mai, Thailand for a few days. Though we've been to Thailand a few times before, Chiang Mai is different than any other place we've been to as it's in the northern part of Thailand and in the middle of the country, which means no beaches.
We arrived in the late afternoon and quickly went to the pool at our hotel. Xavier had swam on our first vacation when he was 1 month old but had not swam since then. He loved floating around in his airplane and splashing in the water.
The next day we visited Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. This temple is located at the top of the hills outside of Chiang Mai and had a beautiful staircase leading up to the main temple.
That afternoon we visited a local botanical gardens before hitting up the pool again!
The next day we did the big things on our list for Chiang Mai- pet tigers and ride elephants! I was skeptical going there that we would be able to do anything with Xavier, but the staff assured us that he was safe to be with the baby tigers. The small tigers were 3-4 months old and very playful. The staff explained to us that the tigers are exposed to humans so often that they become accustomed to it (vs the rumors of tigers being drugged). Though the tigers have become used to human touch, there were still many precautions and rules we had to follow to protect ourselves. Xavier was not allowed in with the big tigers, so Ryan and I took turns going in to sit with them. Some of the tigers had woken up and were moving around while we were in there and the staff was very cautious with where we stood and moved to give the tiger space. It was a once and a lifetime chance and we loved it (plus the amazing photos we got!)
The second part of our day was riding elephants. We were taken to a local elephant camp where their care takers live with them. We were told by our elephant's care taker that they spend half of the week in the camp giving rides and such and the rest of the week in the jungle where the elephants roam and eat freely. Xavier loved the elephant ride and the splash he made for us when we walked through the river!
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| Doing so well at the hotel buffet |
On Easter we were fortunate enough to spend the day with a family from America we have become close with through our church who was also visiting Hong Kong. They were renting a home nearby that we spent the day swimming, getting our first Thai massages and enjoying an amazing meal with. We've truly become blessed with such wonderful friends that we are able to spend holidays with when we are away from our own family.
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| Xavier's first Easter! |
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| Pool party! |
Our last big site was a 3D art museum by our hotel. We loved being able to go through and interact with all the pieces and each try out our best pose for photos! Luckily Xavier slept through most of it, otherwise we would have been there all day setting him up for pictures.
